Off-season Updates on MBB

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

1 hour ago, HAPvsOA said:

I hope Turtle is amazing this year as I'm sure we all do, but he would be an exception to what typically happens as you state. 

honestly if he can play when we have fouls or injury, he's a massive improvement over an acquisition like Addarrin Scott (remember him)

Anything more than that would be a huge win 

[AUSCalum87 453]

5 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I also think we just gotta see how these guys look like when bullets are flying…I know some ppl were pissed with how blunt you were with your opinion about Turtle, but you can only operate with the in-game film you have to work with. I still think that should be held in higher weight than practice reports. Anyone who’s an Auburn FOOTBALL fan should know that there are plenty of practice giants who don’t translate for one reason or another  

Yes, you are correct and I know I can come across as being combative or condescending, but as you said, I just go off from what I have seen on previous film of him, and just being realistic about who Turtle is as a player. There’s a reason he transferred from GA State and not getting many minutes at SMU. Again, I always hope for the best for any of our players, and if he exceeds my expectations than I’m more than gladly to be told I know nothing about basketball. I just want to be able to have civil conversations and just because I might not agree with your point of view, we can still have constructive conversations. It’s why even with you, I might not see eye to eye but I do respect your opinion and knowledge of basketball.

[AUSCalum87 453]

Apparently we are having an exhibition game against FAU at Neville Arena. I didn’t see a date for it though.

[AUSCalum87 453]

Schedule news: Apparently we will be playing Monmouth on December 30 at Neville Arena. I imagine they will be our last nonconference game before conference play starts.

[Lotto 267]

On 8/9/2024 at 2:18 PM, haleycenter said:

 

judging guys before they step on the court 🤡

When you practice, it’s on a court

[Lotto 267]

I feel like the points yall make about translation is definitely true- however I do think that the combination of him surprising while practicing is indicative that he will work well for us and be used more than just an emergency- now that isn’t to say it’s more than 6 minutes a game but will be huge for rough physical games like against a Mississippi  state or South Carolina from last year.  I mainly say that because if a reporter thinks he looks good then I pair that with Pearl’s wisdom and ability to utilize certain people, then I think that’s cause for optimism.  I also think the practice translation is a lot less of an issue in basketball than football but I could be wrong 

[AUSCalum87 453]

Update on the Maui Invitational: We will play Iowa State. We have the toughest first round matchup, because why not. North Carolina plays Dayton, MSU plays Colorado and UCONN plays Memphis. Bruce needs to go all out for our first game or else we will be put in the losers’ bracket with Memphis/Colorado/Dayton. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

1 hour ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Update on the Maui Invitational: We will play Iowa State. We have the toughest first round matchup, because why not. North Carolina plays Dayton, MSU plays Colorado and UCONN plays Memphis. Bruce needs to go all out for our first game or else we will be put in the losers’ bracket with Memphis/Colorado/Dayton. 

If this was last year, even that losers’ bracket would be a headache. Memphis started out crazy hot and both Colorado and Dayton had 1st round talents at the time. 

[AUSCalum87 453]

30 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

If this was last year, even that losers’ bracket would be a headache. Memphis started out crazy hot and both Colorado and Dayton had 1st round talents at the time. 

I completely agree with you about that. However, I think only Memphis is rated in the top 25 in the preseason Torvik rankings. The other two are around 50 and lower. Personally, I just would love to see Auburn beat Iowa State, beat UNC and then have a chance to play UCONN since we choked away our chance last year to do that in the tournament.

Edited August 19 by AUSCalum87

[AUSCalum87 453]

Just saw some cliff notes about Pearl talking tonight about the team. To sum up: 

Miles Kelly might be the best shooter Pearl has ever had. 
He really likes this team, like ALOT. 
Believes that Howard will be a pro, he’s that good.
One interesting or could be concerning, depending on how you perceive it: he stated the one issue is at point guard. Stated JP should be the starter, and Denver will be the backup. Doesn’t like the idea of that though because he likes Denver as a pure shooter. Same with Pettiford. Don’t know if he thinks highly of our guard situation or not.

Edited August 20 by AUSCalum87

[Lotto 267]

5 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Just saw some cliff notes about Pearl talking tonight about the team. To sum up: 

Miles Kelly might be the best shooter Pearl has ever had. 
He really likes this team, like ALOT. 
Believes that Howard will be a pro, he’s that good.
One interesting or could be concerning, depending on how you perceive it: he stated the one issue is at point guard. Stated JP should be the starter, and Denver will be the backup. Doesn’t like the idea of that though because he likes Denver as a pure shooter. Same with Pettiford. Don’t know if he thinks highly of our guard situation or not.

Definitely a bit concerning but should be a fun season regardless 

[AUSCalum87 453]

Schedule update: Auburn will be playing UNA at Auburn on November 18. We likely now only have 2-3 games left to announce in the nonconference. To date, we have Houston, UNA, Maui Invitational (3 games), at Duke, Ohio State, Georgia State, Purdue, and Monmouth for the nonconference schedule.

[gravejd 3,304]

16 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Just saw some cliff notes about Pearl talking tonight about the team. To sum up: 

Miles Kelly might be the best shooter Pearl has ever had. 
He really likes this team, like ALOT. 
Believes that Howard will be a pro, he’s that good.
One interesting or could be concerning, depending on how you perceive it: he stated the one issue is at point guard. Stated JP should be the starter, and Denver will be the backup. Doesn’t like the idea of that though because he likes Denver as a pure shooter. Same with Pettiford. Don’t know if he thinks highly of our guard situation or not.

PG has been and will be my biggest concern going into next season. Pearl had stated before that he didn't see Pettiford as a PG to start his college career. So i'm not sure why he let the PG position play out the way it did. We now are looking at a first year transfer being the starter and then someone else playing the position who you don't really want there in Pettiford, Kelley, or Jones. Its going to be a real shame if we have all these great players/shooters standing around and no one able to run an offense.

Hope Pearl is refining his PG by committee approach this offseason. I know he has a reputation of his teams struggling without an elite PG to run things. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

16 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Just saw some cliff notes about Pearl talking tonight about the team. To sum up: 

Miles Kelly might be the best shooter Pearl has ever had. 
He really likes this team, like ALOT. 
Believes that Howard will be a pro, he’s that good.
One interesting or could be concerning, depending on how you perceive it: he stated the one issue is at point guard. Stated JP should be the starter, and Denver will be the backup. Doesn’t like the idea of that though because he likes Denver as a pure shooter. Same with Pettiford. Don’t know if he thinks highly of our guard situation or not.

Just gotta run more designed sets imo. Also should have a lot more possessions where guys can just go get a bucket. Pegues, Denver, the freshman kid, they don’t necessarily have to be on the ball because they’re 1s (ex. Aden Holloway). 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

5 minutes ago, gravejd said:

PG has been and will be my biggest concern going into next season. Pearl had stated before that he didn't see Pettiford as a PG to start his college career. So i'm not sure why he let the PG position play out the way it did. We now are looking at a first year transfer being the starter and then someone else playing the position who you don't really want there in Pettiford, Kelley, or Jones. Its going to be a real shame if we have all these great players/shooters standing around and no one able to run an offense.

Hope Pearl is refining his PG by committee approach this offseason. I know he has a reputation of his teams struggling without an elite PG to run things. 

He did start with trying to fill out that Miles Kelly spot with actual guards. Just didn’t work out 

[AUSCalum87 453]

20 minutes ago, gravejd said:

PG has been and will be my biggest concern going into next season. Pearl had stated before that he didn't see Pettiford as a PG to start his college career. So i'm not sure why he let the PG position play out the way it did. We now are looking at a first year transfer being the starter and then someone else playing the position who you don't really want there in Pettiford, Kelley, or Jones. Its going to be a real shame if we have all these great players/shooters standing around and no one able to run an offense.

Hope Pearl is refining his PG by committee approach this offseason. I know he has a reputation of his teams struggling without an elite PG to run things. 

As DTR said below, Pearl attempted to go after other true guards but we just couldn’t get them. However, if you want to be a half glass full type of person, I don’t think our guard situation will be any worse than last year. I mean, I think we have upgraded at the guard position as a whole. Also, I don’t think Bruce schedules this type of nonconference without believing that this team has potential to be special. 

[AUSCalum87 453]

21 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Just gotta run more designed sets imo. Also should have a lot more possessions where guys can just go get a bucket. Pegues, Denver, the freshman kid, they don’t necessarily have to be on the ball because they’re 1s (ex. Aden Holloway). 

Exactly. I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal as that quote made it seem. We have shooters all over the floor, and if JP is just adequate, we will be fine. Also, Denver and Miles have extensive experience playing point guard, it’s just not their natural position.

[GTNupe11 2,077]

9 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Just gotta run more designed sets imo. Also should have a lot more possessions where guys can just go get a bucket. Pegues, Denver, the freshman kid, they don’t necessarily have to be on the ball because they’re 1s (ex. Aden Holloway). 

That's what I'm thinking. Might have to resort to backyard basketball, Lol. The assignment? Go get a bucket! We've got plenty of dudes on the roster who can do that. I just need Denver to actually finish better around the rim this year....he was terrible. 

Edited August 21 by GTNupe11

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

4 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

That's what I'm thinking. Might have to resort to backyard basketball, Lol. The assignment? Go get a bucket! We've got plenty of dudes on the rest who can do that. I just need Denver to actually finish better around the basketball this year....he was terrible. 

It did get to a point where you couldn’t really trust him as a driver. And even though he was shooting his ass off on jumpshots, you can’t really be an on the ball guy if you can’t finish. The thing is, he had so many that were open misses, just the law of avgs has to go back in the other direction this year…

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

4 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

Exactly. I don’t think it’s going to be that big of a deal as that quote made it seem. We have shooters all over the floor, and if JP is just adequate, we will be fine. Also, Denver and Miles have extensive experience playing point guard, it’s just not their natural position.

To me, the most embarrassing problem (maybe not the biggest, but the ugliest) is that they literally couldn’t trust their 1s to bring the ball up against full court pressure. And outside of Chad, we didn’t have many alternatives 

You pretty much called them out already, but Pegues, Denver, Kelly, Chad, maybe even TP, they all should be able to at least bring the ball over half court and let us start the set. 

[AUSCalum87 453]

2 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

To me, the most embarrassing problem (maybe not the biggest, but the ugliest) is that they literally couldn’t trust their 1s to bring the ball up against full court pressure. And outside of Chad, we didn’t have many alternatives 

You pretty much called them out already, but Pegues, Denver, Kelly, Chad, maybe even TP, they all should be able to at least bring the ball over half court and let us start the set. 

Yea, last year any team who pressured our guards had lot of success. I also think Pearl realized that and made them as game managers instead of playmakers. Basically telling them to not screw up and it showed in how scared our guards played it seem. I don’t think that will be an issue this year with the type of shooters we have. I mean, Kelly and Pegues are used to making big plays and shots, so they won’t be hesitant like last year’s guards at all. Again, I think overall our backcourt has upgraded, which should result in a better showing in the tournament.

[AUSCalum87 453]

Schedule update: Auburn will be playing Kent State at home on November 13.

[Lotto 267]

Does anyone know around what date  tickets will be available for purchase this year ?  Want to go ahead and get that march 8 against Bama 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[Dual-Threat Rigby 9,035]

Jakhi Howard…idk how much skill the kid actually has but his athleticism is unreal

[AUSCalum87 453]

57 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Jakhi Howard…idk how much skill the kid actually has but his athleticism is unreal

Agree! I’m telling you, he’s going to be on the floor more than people realize. Can’t let someone like him with his athleticism sit on the bench.